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These are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages that existed prior to British invasion. There were around 250 languages and around 600 dialects. Now, only 145 Indigenous Australian languages exist with 110 of them being “critically endangered”.

“I’d have thought 50,000 years of existing on the continent would have qualified as settled.”

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Nova Peris (Senator for the Northern Territory who is the first Indigenous woman in parliament) when asked for comment on Tony Abbott’s statement on Australia being “unsettled” prior to British invasion.

As today is Remembrance Day, I would like to take some time to remember the many thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who fought continously for their country since British invasion. I acknowledge and pay my respects to my peoples’ ancestors who were killed in the Frontier Wars right across the continent. These wars are a dark chapter in the history of this land and we cannot let them be forgotten.